ASCENT Blog

Webcast follow-up: Data Exchange between Revit and Civil 3D

I thank everyone for attending my webcast on April 24^th where we examined ways of exchanging data between Autodesk Civil 3D and Autodesk Revit.  For Civil Engineers (or site designers), we looked at incorporating a Revit 3D model and/or 2D building footprint into the project, and for Architects, we discussed best practices to incorporate the Civil 3D surface in the Revit Project.

To revisit the webinar, we have posted the recording on the ASCENT YouTube channel at: https://youtu.be/yeToSGeVwZg 

I used the Civil 3D and Revit 2019.2 products because:

• Among the major changes from 2019.0 to 2019.1, Revit no longer can export to a Building Site format (*.adsk)
• A new feature got introduced, the ability to share surfaces.
• The Shared Reference Point is not (yet) available in the 2020 versions.

The webcast was prepared for:

• Architects
• Civil Engineers
• Site Designers
• Landscape Architects
• Technicians

Topics covered in the webcast:

• Export the Revit Model in a 2D and 3D format efficiently
• Link a Civil 3D surface at the proper location
• Reference a Revit Model in Civil 3D, choosing 2D or 3D
• Create a surface link for Revit
• Referencing the surface in Revit

Below are some questions that came up during the webcast:

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Q: When importing the surface from civil 3D into Revit, it comes as one piece. Because of that we can only apply one type of material. We would like to have the surface come in to Revit in a way that we can apply sidewalk material to the sidewalk area, pavers material to the pavers are and so on. Is there a way to achieve this?

This is a new tool and one can hope that as it matures, more functionality will become available. For now I would suggest using the Revit Paint tool to outline the areas of concern and apply a Revit material to this painted surface. I realize this will be cumbersome. Another more professional  approach would be to bring both the Revit Model and the Civil 3D surfaces (with properly defined materials) into Autodesk 3D Studio for rendering.

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Q: ­ Do you have a written list of settings recommended for view templates?­

Typically in Civil 3D one doesn't need the interiors of a building (however care must be taken as to what is visible through the glass from the exterior). Thus I recommend creating a View Template in Revit to control the visibility of such interior objects. Use the "Interior" filter, and ensure that this is set for the Revit objects that contain that setting. This will handle the Revit categories, however you still have to go through the 3D model and 2D site plan to turn off (or on) individual objects.

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Q: Any concerns importing Revit in Civil 3D "Feet" units or "US Survey Feet" units when exchanging information?

No concerns. The Shared Reference Point utility asks for a "local" origin point in the Revit Model and then the coordinates are relative to that origin point. Thus any differences between Feet and US Survey Feet become negligible at such short of distance (from the "origin"). 

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Q: Or millimeters I guess for us in the UK?

The demonstration used Imperial units for both Civil 3D and Revit, however it works just as well for Metric units. The Ascent courseware for these products come in Metric and Imperial versions.

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Q: Can this handle multi-building projects?  For other discipline Revit models (i.e. Structural, electrical, etc.) do you need to import the shared coordinate xml file into each of those as well?

For multi-building projects Civil 3D can handle it with simply inserting more xrefs. Revit on the other hand may have issues. Ascent has a course dealing specifically with this topic, in which a workflow for sharing coordinates with other linked files is outlined.

• Autodesk Revit Architecture: Site and Structural Design

Once a coordinate system is established in a Revit model, it can be published to other linked models (such as structural, electrical, etc.)

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Q: What should we do when surface changed in C3D by site designer?

As the site changes, the site designer re-publishes the surface and Revit will re-link to the shared surface through its reference manager. There is a new tab now for Topology in the reference manager.

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Thank you again! If you have ideas or requests for future webcasts, please let us know.

 

 

My Favorite (3) Things in Revit 2020

By Martha Hollowell Orcutt

It is always fun to see what the experts at Autodesk come up with throughout the year. Since they have moved to a subscription service there are more frequent updates but the “big” release always seems to come out in the spring. Today I want to look at three of my favorite things in Revit 2020.

Legend Views

This might sound like a small thing, but it is great that you can now use Copy to the Clipboard to place a Legend on multiple sheets very quickly. Place the legend in the right place on one sheet and then use Paste Aligned to Selected Views to put it in the exact same place on other sheets. This could be very useful with a Key Plan that needs to be on every sheet as shown below.

Path of Travel

A typical part of a building design includes life safety diagrams that point out how people get out of a building. Codes frequently require specific distances to exits and so it is important to be able to record that information in the building model. The Path of Travel tool analyzes these distances between two points specified in plans, as shown below.

• Path of Travel lines can be tagged and information included in schedules.

How to: Use Path of Travel Lines

1. In the Analyze tab> Route Analysis panel, click (Path of Travel).
2. Select the first point for the line of travel.
3. Select the second point for the line of travel.
4. Depending upon the Route Analysis Settings, the route is calculated.
5. Tag the travel lines as needed.

• Load the Path of Travel tag from the Revit Library in the Annotations

Route Analysis Settings

You can specify categories of elements that impact the analysis and placement of travel lines. For example, in the sample below, only the door category is ignored in calculating the route. 

Then, in the sample below, all categories are ignored, so you can calculate the distances between exits and the building diagonal.

• In the Analyze tab> Route Analysis panel title, click (Route Analysis Settings).  In the Route Analysis Settings dialog box (as shown below), select the model categories you want to include or exclude.

 

Tag and Schedule Elevation Parameters for MEP Elements

Another seemingly small change that can pay big dividends in quality of design is the use of Elevation parameters for a wide variety of MEP families that can be used in tags and schedules. For example, you can create a schedule that shows the elevation from level for the various electrical fixtures in a project.

     

The following elements now include the Elevation from Level parameter:

• Mechanical Equipment
• Plumbing Fixture
• Lighting Fixture
• Lighting Device
• Sprinklers
• Electrical Fixtures
• Electrical Equipment
• Data Device
• Communication Device
• Fire Alarm Device
• Nurse Call Device
• Security Device
• Telephone Device
• Specialty Equipment

 

Question:

There are plenty of other enhancements in Revit 2020. What is your favorite? Post a comment below and let us know.

Inventor Read-only Mode

By Jennifer MacMillan

With the installation of Inventor 2020 you now have access to a Read-only version of Inventor. This eliminates the need to install Inventor View as part of the installation. Once installed you can simply run it as Inventor Read-only Mode 2020. It does not require a license of Inventor to be used.

The interface looks much like Inventor, just with fewer tabs and options. It enables you to load projects and open parts, assemblies, drawings, and presentation files. Once a file is opened, you will have a limited number of tabs available that focus your experience on reviewing the model. You can review the following:

• Use the Model Browser to review the features that were used in the model. You can additionally control the visibility of sketches and work features used to create the geometry using the right-click menu.
• Use the Model Browser to review the component names and view the constraints used to assemble them.
• Use the Inspect tab to measure, analyze interference, and use the analysis tools (parts only).
• Use the View tab to control appearances and visibility as is available in the full version of Inventor.
• Use the View Cube and Navigation pane to control the view orientation of the model.
• For assemblies, you can also review the Bill of Materials for the model using the Assemble tab.

I am guessing the next question you are going to ask is … “ Where do I get it?”. Autodesk is recommending that for those that do not have access to Inventor 2020, simply download the full trial version and run it as read-only. I hope that this is great new way for you to view your models.

Jennifer